Where have you been...

That's probably what everyone has been thinking.  Well, busy is the answer.  B.U.S.Y.

First of all, I'm still trying to plug through these Masters classes.  I am in Week 4 of a 5 week class, then I only have one more 5 week class after this and I'm done.  The end is in sight.  I think I can, I think I can.

Second, preplanning and back-to-school reared it's ugly head.  And there is nothing like being told two days before the start of school that you are going to go from teaching 5th grade ELA and Social Studies to teaching 2nd grade self-contained to make your head explode.  It was not pretty.

So yeah, that's where I've been.  I promise to get back to posting more soon, just as soon as my brain settles into second grade world and I find balance between home, school, and grad school (at that rate, I'll start posting again once the kids are off to college).

August Popsugar Must Have Box and Ipsy Glam Bag

I love it when things come in the mail!  Love it!

It's like Christmas, even if I was the one who ordered the stuff.  So, imagine my excitement Wednesday, when both my Ipsy Glam Bag and Popsugar Must Have box arrived.

First for the Ipsy Glam Bag.  Here's an overview of what arrived in the bag.

As always, everything came tucked inside a cute little bag.  This one was a graphic black and white with a pop of hot pink.

Inside was a sample size lipstick by Noyah in soft pink.

Next came a Luxe Doubler eye liner and lip liner.

Then Trust Fund nail polish in a soft periwinkle/purple.

A Briogeo hair volumizer

And finally, Juara antioxidant mask.

I have to be honest, at this point I am considering canceling my subscription to Ipsy.  It just doesn't seem like the samples I am getting are anything I am going to use.  I'll try these and see how it goes from there.  If you are interested in trying them out, just click on the link here and sign up.  It is only $10/month.

Now for the Popsugar Must Have Box.  Here is what it looked like when it arrived.

And a closeup of the goodies inside.  First up, some yummy-looking Birthday Cake Pancake and Waffle Mix.  Can't wait until this weekend when I can force the hubby to make these.

Next, a super cute lunchbox all ready for back-to-school.

A great little mug just waiting for some English Breakfast Tea!

Royal Apothic Tea Balm Firming Eye Treatment.  I already started using this.  Will let you know if anything life altering comes from it.

Some super cute napkins ready to be thrown in a lunch box.

Finally, a fun scarf (forgive the picture, it doesn't do it justice) by American Colors.  It is blue and pink plaid and should be great once the weather starts to cool down.

As a bonus, there was also Folgers Iced Cafe drink concentrate.  I'm not a coffee fan, so this will be going to school for whoever wants it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this month's box.  I'm kinda enjoying all the surprise goodies that come in it every month.  If you are interested in signing up, it is $39.95 a month and you can sign up here.

Guest Bath Reveal...Finally

I know what you're all thinking.  Didn't she say back at the beginning of the summer that they were redoing that bathroom?  Is she ever going to finish it?  That sure took a long time.

And the answer to everything is Yes!  Yes, we planned to redo the bathroom.  Yes, I planned to finish it.  Yes, it took a long time.  But finally, finally, it is finished.

At least as finished as it's going to get right now.

We only had a few issues while doing it.  I especially liked it when we thought we were done for the evening, had reset the toilet, and the Mr. was reattaching the line to the toilet when it broke.
And was seriously leaking.
At 10:30 at night.
Which required an emergency run to Super Walmart for a new line.

Just as a reminder, here is what it looked like the last time you saw it.

And here is what it looks like now (with tons of pictures).

Forgive the lighting in the pictures.  Since this is a little bathroom next to the media room, there is no natural light.  We painted the walls, replaced the light fixture, switched out the towel bar for hooks, changed the shower head, hung shelves, and added a bunch of decorative accessories.

I still need to find a rug and replace the white towels with burgundy (if I can find them).  We also intend to frame the mirror in the future (once we get a new miter saw).  But for the time being, it's looking pretty good, and just in time for visitors next week.

Other summer goals

I'm the type of person that always has several things going on at once.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not, but it's just the way I am.

Now that we're back from traveling, it's time to get back into the swing of things. Currently, I am working on this blog, working on a Master's class (only three left!), participating in a professional book club about teaching, trying to keep up with and tweet about my summer reading challenge (which I do each year as a way of encouraging my fifth graders to read), decluttering and working on my office, and working on several other house-related goals.

 Some of those goals include polishing off the laundry room re-do (pictures to come soon), working on the kids' rooms, and finishing the Movie Room (aka. the man cave, except that the rest of us take it over), as well as redecorating our guest bathroom, master bedroom, and maybe even our master bath (and maybe not, bit of an overachiever here).

Today I thought I would talk about the guest bathroom.  Before we moved in, it looked like this.

I guess I never took a picture of it after we moved in.  We went with a beach theme.  We hung a white shower curtain with blue squares that we've had forever, along with the matching towels and rug.  We hung some frames with pictures of shells in them and a few other beach themed accessories. Was it bad?  No.  Was it great?  No.

Then we started the remodel on the movie room, which happens to be right next to the bathroom. The movie room has dark, garnet paint. It has dark molding.  The look is dramatic.  And that bathroom, not so dramatic.  Total mismatch.  So we decided to redo it.

After hunting online, I ordered these shower curtains.  We chose a paint to go with the color scheme and picked it up the Saturday before we went out of town.  Now, we just need to get it all put together, so it can go from this... (ahhh, scary!)

to something much, much better and hopefully before company arrives at the beginning of August. Watch for updates and the final unveiling to come.

On a side note, I order a lot of items online.  If you have never heard of Ebates.com, you should check into it.  You get cash back when you shop online at certain stores.  While the cash back varies, it's still money back on something you are buying anyway.  Click here to sign up or for more information.

Welcome back and some goodies

We got back from vacation yesterday.  Suffice it to say that it was a very long 18 hours stuck in the car with a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old.  Not. Fun.

Anyway, imagine how excited I was today to see some goodies arrive at my door.

The pink shiny bag is my Ipsy Glam Bag subscription, while the box is my Popsugar Must Have subscription.  Read on to find out what came in each of my subscriptions this month.  If you are interested in learning more about ordering either of these, check out the bottom of this post.

First let's take a look at what came in my Ipsy July Glam Bag.

Each month Ipsy sends a new Glam Bag filled with a variety of cosmetics.  Here is what was inside this month's Glam Bag.

The first things I pulled out were a shadow and crease brush and OFRA Eyeshadow & Highlighter in Bliss.  The packaging left something to be desired, but as you can see below it is a nice neutral color with a bit of shimmer.

Next I pulled out a sample size Bare Republic Natural Mineral Sunscreen.

I then pulled out two lip products, Jersey Shore Sun Mongongo Anti-Aging Lip Conditioner in Vanilla Coconut Cream and teez Cosmetics Read My Lips Lipstick in Killing Me Softly.  The lip conditioner smells wonderful and the lipstick is a pinky coral color.

On to the Popsugar Must Have Box.

After opening the tissue paper, this is what I found.

The first thing I pulled out is the Henri Bendel Signature Stripe Canvas Dopp Kit, which is a nice size pouch to store cosmetics or necessities in your cosmetics case or your purse.  Also included was a 20% off coupon code good for one item.  I have been eyeballing some items over at Henri Bendel, so not only am I excited to get this little pouch but can't wait to use my coupon code.

Next came the Yes To Blueberries Cleansing Facial Wipes.  I have heard a lot of good things about the Yes To brand, so I am excited to get a chance to try them out.

After that I pulled out Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist SPF 50.  While reading the description of this item, I was happy to discover that not only is this a setting mist (which I use daily to keep my makeup in place) but it also provides UV protection (which I can appreciate as a light skinned girl living in Texas).  I am eager to try this out.

The next two items seem to go together, a PopDental Portable Toothbrush and a The Good Bean Fruit & No-Nut Bar in Chocolate Berry.  What could be better than to eat a Chocolate Berry Fruit & No-Nut Bar and follow it up using your electric portable toothbrush.

To go along with this on-the-go theme, a Sorial Card Case was also included.  This card case allows a lady to ditch the big wallet and stick a couple cards and some cash for a night on the town.  It also came with a 25% off coupon code for use at shopsorial.com.

Last but certainly not least was a pack of Hallmark Signature Greeting Cards in fun colors and patterns.

The Ipsy Glam Bag subscription is $10 a month and each month you will receive a new pouch full of fun cosmetic products.  You can read more or sign up here.

The Posugar Must Have Box is a subscription that you can sign up for month-by-month, 3 months, or 6 months.  Month-by-month the cost is $39.95, with a discount if you order 3 months or 6 months at a time.  Popsugar Must Have Boxes include the best in fashion, beauty, home, fitness, food, and more. If you are interested in learning more or signing up for a subscription, you can sign up here.*

*Please note that by ordering through the link above I may receive free items in return.

Traveling

If you've been following along and noticed that I have been absent, it's because we have been traveling for the Fourth of July holiday and our summer trip to Florida.  For the first several days I was without WiFi and unable to post.  I expect to get back to posting more next week.  In the meantime, hope you are enjoying your summer.

Cleaning

Friday, I cleaned the house.

Well, at least the upstairs of the house.

This may not seem monumental to most of you.  You're thinking "And...?"

But I don't clean.  I hate cleaning.  Throughout my adult life, I would struggle with wanting a clean house but having no drive to actually do it.  Usually, by the time I was done picking up all the stuff that was never put away, I was too tired to actually clean.

Several years ago, a friend told me to cut myself some slack and just have someone come clean for me.  And yet, I procrastinated.  I was sure that I could stay on top of it.  When we moved to Texas, I talked to some of my fellow teachers about it and, low and behold, they had people who cleaned their houses.

Now, let's be honest.  Part of me wanted to believe I could do it all, part of me didn't want to spend the money, and part of me was dealing with the husband who didn't want to spend the money.  I finally took the plunge and had a company come out.  I walked through the door that evening and like magic, everything was sparkling and smelled good.  Even Luis agreed to have them keep coming out.

But during the summer I'm not working and it seems wrong to pay someone to clean my house when I am home.

Thus, I cleaned part of my house on Friday.

And I was so exhausted that I needed Saturday to recoup.  So I took a day off from doing anything house related (aside from picking up some paint that you'll hear more about later) and had a day for me.

I went and got a pedicure.  You know you are way overdue when the lady picks up your foot, looks at your heels, and just shakes her head.  Now my toes are beach-ready for Florida (and lake-ready for Illinois).

Afterward, I went and got a haircut.  My hair was WAY too long and my go-to style had become a pony-tail.  About 6-7 inches shorter and some highlights, and Ta-Da!  These are before and after pictures from my Summer Reading Challenge Tweets.  In the before, you see my standard pony-tail and after, my shorter, lighter do.  Yea!

The Great Decluttering

If you read my last post, you know that my office is one of my goals for the summer.  It is b-a-d-l-y in need of some organization and restyling.  Yesterday I decided to get started on it.  Just as a flash back, here is what it looked like.

A couple other pictures so you can understand what I was dealing with here.

Needless to say, it was a mess!  I started by pulling the baskets out that I had previously used for sorting.  

If you interested in the sorting signs, you can get your own over at A Bowl Full of Lemons.  Just click here and it will take you to the post with the link.  Or there are some bright ones available at I Heart Organizing.  Click here for the post featuring the download.

By sorting into baskets, it allows me to focus on the room I'm in without leaving to put something away in another room.  When it comes to cleaning and organizing I'm a lot like Doug the dog from Up!, all it takes is one distraction and I'm off on something else.

At the end of day one, after sorting, shredding, tossing and moving out of the room, this is what it looked like.

Is it perfect?  No!  Can I actually see the top of my desk?  Yes!  Progress has been made.  Among other things, I still need to file the kids' school papers (See that pile of stuff on the left side? Yep, that!), move the blue patterned chair out (it belongs in the living room), finish shredding, file papers, organize the cabinets, get that old Dell computer out, paint, install ceiling fan, and lots more.

I'm also thinking about moving the desk.  After much research and deep thinking (aka. spending hours on Pinterest), I found lots of examples of a desk being placed in front of the bookshelves or against the wall looking out the window.  We are thinking about rearranging the desk in front of the shelves to see if that layout works.  I will post pictures once we try it out.

The Never-Finished Office

We got back from Austin yesterday, so today was devoted to unpacking and getting to work on some of my summer goals.

Each summer I come up with a grand list of things I want to get accomplished before heading back to school in the fall (and somehow never finish).  My office has been a goal of mine practically since we moved in almost two years ago.

Awhile ago, we purchased some furniture for the office, but we never finished the room.

Then later, we went through the papers and redid the filing, but we never finished.

I purged books and styled the bookcases, but I never finished.

I started to go through everything in the office and sort into piles, but I never finished.

Are you starting to get the idea?  Despite all this "work", this is what my office looks like today.  View at your own risk!

And that is not even showing the mess hidden behind the desk and the stuff shoved in the cabinets. Needless to say, it needs to be addressed.  So, expect to see some updates as I work my way through this room with a goal to actually finish it this time!